362. The importance of changing your identity with Ty

362. The importance of changing your identity with Ty

How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This check‑in with Ty from Melbourne gives a straight-up look at how changing your identity can make alcohol-free living feel solid, not shaky. Host Danni Carr chats with Ty, a tradie on a 12‑month break from alcohol, who says he’s "solid as a rock" and hasn’t been romanticising drinking at all. His key? Treating himself as a non‑drinker from day one.

As he puts it, "I’ve fully cemented in this identity of someone who doesn’t drink" and that shift means there’s "no desire there whatsoever". You’ll hear how tradie culture has shifted too, from pies and beers to meal prep and couscous on site, and how working with mostly non‑drinking colleagues has made alcohol feel less central.

Ty talks through the old “work hard, play hard” mentality and how out of alignment it felt with the healthy, values‑driven person he wants to be. A huge part of his change is structure. Ty gets up in "the fours" for quiet time, journalling and visualisation, and keeps a folder of "all the good stuff" – his values, strong whys and what he calls a personal blueprint.

He describes it as "engineering clarity" and says that showing up for himself each day feels like a "winning loop". There’s plenty here for anyone who worries about missing out without alcohol. Ty is honest that those feelings can show up, but insists you "find out soon enough that you’re not fucking missing out on anything".

Danni adds simple tools like gratitude, making your bed as a daily ritual, and tiny consistent wins as ways to back up that new sober identity. If you’ve been wondering who you could be without booze, this chat might have you asking a powerful question: are you living in line with the person you say you want to be?